zaboomafoo

That is a good idea. I was thinking about something like that. Any (reliable) solid state solution would be very expensive and I am not even sure if there are any currently in 40+G size. It would also help if I mount the computer into one of those shock mount rack cases. Regards, Frank

I prefer programming over soldering (at least I am a bit better in that) :) I am working on this project slowly, almost in working condition. will post some pictures soon. Regards, Frank

This being a DIY project I try to use things I already have around as much as I can. One of the things that limits the size of the case is the size of the rack that I am planing to use for this. 13" is max that can fit in there. I would rather put the headphones amplifier or balanced output driver in there instead of the DIN. I thought I would have plenty of space but just placing the motherboard (9x12) with soundcards, video card and scsi fills in most of the space. add power supply (1U) and HD - not much left in there. I see your point about the passive cooling, however I am building this for recording live performances so the noise of the PSU or SCSI drive is not a problem at all. I am more concerned about the vibrations. I had some problems recording loud performances with my roland HD recorder. This is going slightly off topic :) . I believe I got my answers, thanks everybody. I will post the results (once I have something) in case somebody is interested to build something like that. Regards, Frank

I know it sounds like that but 3U is actually not much. I need to put in there 3 sound cards, SCSI card, video card, breakout panel for 1/4 in and out (10 inputs, 10 outputs), probably a headphones amplifier too. real computer rack cases are large but they are too deep for music racks. this will be a custom made case about 13" deep so there isn't much space there. I cannot even fit the CD/DVD drive in, it will have to be external USB. I will post some pictures here once I have this going on (in few weeks). It will be a standalone HD recorder, running REAPER on w2k. Plan is to extend that to a digital mixer later on by adding something like midibox_lc on top of that. I think it is worth looking at this option. Adding one resistor per switch is less work than building a DIN board. Especially for somebody with not so great soldering skills like me :) . Programming is not an issue for me. As long as this is consistent in the values that come into A/D I can code a simple de-bouncing routine in there. problem would be if the buttons on the same circuit need to be pressed together, which is not the case here. Regards, Frank

I would like to make this as simple as possible since it will be mounted inside a custom made computer case (3U rackmount), there will not be much space with all the other things that will go in. Using J5 as DIN gives me 8 inputs, and that is probably enough for this. It would be nice to add a few more, but not too critical. To reply to my post, I have this idea which I have to try (see the attached image). Basically two (or more) switches can be connected to a single pin on J5. 2nd switch would have a resistor connected to it in series, so when it is pressed it forms a voltage divider. so basically this would work as a "switching pot". each switch would give different voltage to the AIN and it could be decoded that way. I did something similar with the switches connected to the joystick port on a PC. Will give it a try with mios. Regards, Frank EDIT: I believe V+ and GND should be switched based on J5/DIN diagram. 2_switches.GIF

Hello, I would like to build a mios based simple control surface within the computer case. This computer will be a standalone hard disk recorder and this simple control surface will provide: - LCD display (time display, peaks, armed tracks, some other info) - transport buttons (5) - 3 buttons for arming/disarming the tracks (left-right, arm on/off) This all can be done with just a core and lcd. 8 buttons can be connected to AIN with no multiplexing. Now my questions: - can some other pins on the PIC be used for buttons (DIN)? It would be nice to add a few more buttons, but without adding a DIN module - is it safe to connect 5V and MIDI IN/OUT directly from the soundcard to core? Those would be permanently connected since everything will be fixed inside the PC case. Reards, Frank

this might help: http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1999&ty=&dty=&section=&NextRow=&ssUserText=an878 AN878 has a complete C library of functions for handling CAN. I don't have midibox hardware to try it. Did somebody tried that? Regards, Frank

I would like to use MBNet for my control surface. Simple messaging, same as the original poster. Any simple examples (C or assembler) would be much appreciated. Regards, Frank

I solved this problem. It turned out that it was easy to just take the bulb out of the pedal. I took the bulb, broke the glass and soldered a LED inside the bulb's base. LED is controlled from one of the DOUTs. Everything works fine. Now I have to add some code in my program that will handle the pedal movements and send some CCs. Thanks Frank

You are correct Roger, the bulb doesn't need to be controlled. it should be always on. I will try to connect it directly to the power in, before the power supply and se how it goes. I might fry the wallwart if too much current is drawn. Unfortunatelly I don't have any specs on this pedal. It came of an old '70 hammond organ that I got off ebay for $0.01. This was probably the best purchase I ever made on ebay. this thing became a donor for many things - nice 30w solid state amp, 12inch alnico speaker, spring reverb (that is now a nice guitar combo), 61keys for the midi controller keyboard. And now I have this pedal that just begs to be used for something :) . Regards, Frank

Hello, I am building a floor controller for behringer VAMP2. It is mostly done. I wanted to connect to it an expression pedal from an old hammond organ. It has a photoresistor and from what I can see a regular lightbulb inside. I am not sure how to connect the bulb. I tried to conect a 9v battery to the bulb and it seems to work fine. I tried to connect the bulb to the +/- 5V from the core board, which brings the voltage down to below 3V and nothing works. Should I try to connect it directly to the power (J1 on the CORE board). Or maybe to one of the DOUTs? It would probably make it easier if this was a LED, but I don't think I can take this thing apart and replace the bulb with the LED. I will try that if nothing else works. Regards, Frank